Chapter Text
Jaune and Yang were walking to the bar she had mentioned during their introduction. She was meeting up with some friends and wanted to do some networking for him. It was taking all of his self control not to stare at all the different monster girls around the university. Wait, if he was the only human and no male monsters went to higher education… Yang laughed next to him. “You just realized you’re the only guy here, huh?” Jaune nodded shakily. “Don’t worry. All of the monsters with higher libido have supplements or resources that will stop them from preying on you.” She winked. “But even if one of them should try…” Yang’s eyes widened and her pupils elongated like a snake’s. Her fangs, which Jaune hadn’t noticed, had some strings of spit on them as a forked tongue shot out from her mouth. “I’ll put them in their place!” Jaune took an involuntary step back, making Yang freeze before returning to normal. “Sorry about that, Jaune. I’m just very…protective of my friends. Overprotective at times, actually.”
“It’s fine.” Jaune smiled, having recovered extremely quickly. “I’m just glad you’re alright.” Yang beamed at him, her scales seeming to glow in the dying light. “So, which way to the bar?”
“It’s right up here!” She grabbed his arm and pulled him after her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the tip of her tail wagging lazily through the air. It was all so fascinating. “Before we go inside,” Yang drew his attention once again, “what’s your major? We never discussed this, so I want to be the first to know.”
Jaune nodded. That made sense, his roommate should be the first to know his major. It’d be embarrassing for her if she was just as clueless as the friends she was introducing him to. “Right. I’m a pre-med major. I’m hoping to become a doctor. Beacon offered me a full ride, so that’s why I’m here. Beyond that, I’m just happy to leave the house.”
“Huh, how strange.” Yang commented. “I’m a pharmaceutical major myself. It’s nothing interesting, honestly, just the only major I could get into at the time.” She sighed. “Before you ask, it’s because of my Lamia heritage. We have a high resistance to poison and have extremely discerning senses, which makes us naturally great at fields involving those subjects, like pharmacies and herbal medicine. That’s how the myth of Lamias being poisonous came to be.”
Jaune nodded again. “Well, what about alchemy?” Yang looked at him in shock. “What? I don’t know much about monsters, but I come from a family with a long history. We had an ancestor who dabbled in alchemy thousands of years ago. He wasn’t very good and ended up turning himself into gold, but that’s how I know about it.”
“Funny you should mention that.” Yang laughed. “Pharmacy majors are just what Beacon calls alchemy. Most humans think of alchemy as nothing more than a way to get rich, so the school covers it up by calling it a medicine-making field. Which it is as well.”
“Of course. Alchemy is the art of transforming one thing into another. Finding the secrets of the universe and using them to achieve a desired result, right?” Jaune asked, getting a smile from Yang. “Whew, I was afraid that I would get that wrong.”
“Heh, not at all, Jaune.” Yang draped her arm around him. “Now, why don’t we get to know my friends? We can always talk later.” Jaune nodded before following her inside.
It wasn’t as loud as Jaune thought it would be, but it was certainly darker than the one or two bars he’d been inside. UV lights lit up the walls, making the stains on the floor shine as Yang led him through the barely lit room. “Is it always like this?” Jaune asked.
“No, sorry. I forgot it was Eclipse night.” Yang apologized. “They have themes every other week. Tonight was eclipse-themed.”
“Yang? Is this your new roommate?” A voice spoke up, making Jaune jump as he turned around to see cat ears and the hint of amber. He looked down to see a pretty girl’s face with cat-like amber eyes and feline ears on her head. There was just the slightest hint of bulging on the sides of her head which let him know that she descended from the Faunus 2000 years ago. Vestigial traits lingered for quite some time. “Hello, I’m Blake. You must be the human here.”
“My name’s Jaune.” He offered a hand-shake, but was greeted by a cold hand on his shoulder. “H-Hello?”
“Human. Why are you staying with a Lamia? Don’t you know what their kind does to human men?” Jaune turned around to see a tall, stern-looking woman with white hair looking into his eyes. A shorter, petite girl was standing next to her. They looked alike, so they must have been siblings. His eyes, finally having adjusted, recognized the sealskin hats they were wearing.
“Selkies?” He blurted out, making the shorter girl blush while the taller woman raised an eyebrow. “Sorry if I misspoke…”
“No, it’s quite alright. Most humans call us mermaids nowadays, but we’re from Mantle, not Mistral.” The woman explained. “The history lesson can wait though. Your species and mine have been allies for millennia. We were among the few monsterfolk which did not wage war against the humans. Unlike the Lamias and the Catfolk…” Yang and Blake frowned at that. “Now, I am aware that you need a roommate, so I would be happy to offer my sister’s spare room to you. You would not need to share a bed with the snake tonight.”
Jaune looked back to see Yang staring at him with an unreadable expression. He looked at the Selkie with hard eyes. “I’m sorry, but no.” She raised her eyebrows. “I barely know you, ma’am, and I do not know your sister at all. If she wished for me to be her roommate, I would have to hear it from her. However, I would deny it all the same as I already have a roommate, and her name is Yang.” The Lamia beamed at that. The Selkie sighed before looking at him again.
She offered him a handshake. “Well said, Mr. Arc.” He was confused, but accepted it anyway. “My name is Winter. My younger sister here asked me to see if you were good enough for her friend. I apologize for the deception, and for the remarks made against you, Yang and Blake.” With that, Winter left. Not even saying goodbye to anyone.
“I swear, Jaune, I didn’t know anything about that!” Yang admitted. “I could barely even see her because of these stupid UV lights messing with my eyes!”
“Here, Xiao Long. Take some eyedrops.” The smaller girl mentioned with a scoff. “And you, Mr. Arc.” She pointed at him dramatically. “Don’t think that Yang will be so easy to put out for you! She’s a refined woman and far better than you!”
“On that we agree, Miss…” Jaune responded calmly, offering a handshake.
“O-Oh…” she blushed before shaking his hand, “Weiss.” She smiled bashfully. “I apologize, I was under the impression that all humans were brutes who wished to turn us monster girls into broodmares.”
“Not all of us are so barbaric.” Jaune assured her. “Least of all me. You girls are the first monster girls I’ve ever met, after all.” He smiled, making her blush more before her eyes widened.
She began blurting out apology after apology, babbling about how if she had known he was unfamiliar with monsters she would never have deceived him like that. Weiss seemed like a good person. She cared about her friends and didn’t want to see them taken advantage of. Jaune wasn’t bothered at all because he knew her motives were pure. He even said as much, making her blush again before nodding.
Weiss regained her regal bearing before nodding to him and striding away, presumably out of the bar, though Jaune couldn’t see anything. “Yep, that’s Weiss.” Yang sighed. “Sorry, probably should’ve warned you about her.”
“You think?” Blake commented dryly. “Look, Jaune. There will be quite a few girls here who have their own stereotypes about humans, just as humans have quite a few stereotypes about us. I’m a Werecat, but my bite will not turn you into a monster. That’s a myth stemming from 2000 years ago when the Faunus died out by intermingling with monsters, creating the Werepeople.” Jaune nodded in understanding.
“Okay, thanks Blake.” He turned to Yang. “Was there anyone else you wanted me to meet?”
“Yes, but she’s running a little late, as usual…” Yang sighed. “She’s always so busy. You’ll like her though.”
“Wait, you didn’t ask her to come here, did you?” Blake asked worriedly. “I mean, she’s nice and all, but don’t you think bringing her indoors is a bad idea?”
Yang scoffed. “Please, she’s perfectly capable of controlling hersel-” Yang was cut off by the sound of trampling before Jaune was picked up into the air and carried out the door.
“WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?!?!” He, Yang, and the entire bar shouted in unison. As his kidnapper leapt out the door, Jaune saw the briefest glimpse of emerald green eyes and red hair before she landed and kept galloping. ‘Kidnapped by a centaur. What do you know, Mom was right.’
To be continued???